Wednesday, March 4, 2015

HOUSE OF WAGYU: A NEW SAGA BEGINS

It was in late 2014 that I had what was perhaps the greatest steak dinners I've ever had in my lifetime. I've always been more of a quality over quantity guy, so it wasn't so much about the number of steaks that what was placed in front of me, but the incredible level of tenderness and flavor that I had never experienced before in all my years of being a lover of all things steak. Nonetheless, imagine an evening, having four different cuts of mouth-watering, High grade Wagyu Steaks sizzling in stone slabs right in front of you? It's hard to imagine a steak dinner getting any better than that!

Or so I thought.

Just when I thought I would never find higher quality of meat than I did that magical evening, House of Wagyu once again raises the bar when it comes to steak dining in the Philippines, by introducing to our shores The A5 Prime Grade 11 Wagyu from the Saga Prefecture in Japan.

The short program revealed the lengths that The House of Wagyu has gone through to bring this high quality of beef to the Philippines. We were given a little background from Representatives from Saga Prime Wagyu in Japan, who were flown in for this momentous occasion. It was also quite surreal to meet the man himself that began as a humble farmer, that cultivated the Japanese Black Cattle, and elevated it to the level of excellence of meat it is known for today. His efforts simultaneously helped give the Saga prefecture a definitive stamp as one of the leading producers with regards to Quality Beef in Japan

I can safely say that I had never seen a piece of meat with Marbling this stunning. As man who constantly reiterates his need for fat in his steak, my mouth watered upon seeing this, making me feel like a Kardashian at the BET Awards. The marbling on the slab was absolutely gorgeous, with the meat-to fat ratio seemingly favoring the fat side.

They left a slice of steak out for display, and I was seriously contemplating stuffing it down my shirt and running off with it. I know it sounds silly to say that I got star struck with a piece of meat, but that's kind of what happened. I couldn't help but stare at it and say to myself, "wow".

THE DINNER

The dinner began with two staples of The House Of Wagyu's Menu that I had tried before. The first being the delicious Cream of Carrot Soup, which had an innate sweetness that melded with its creaminess wonderfully. The second was the Scallop andShrimp Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette that Rina loves so much. Unfortunately, she wasn't with me this time to polish it off.

Then came the moment the entire room was waiting for. The collective "Oohs" and "Aahs" that rang through the room would make you think that a Victoria's Secret Model had just emerged from the Kitchen. Instead, it was a small plate of gorgeous meat.

The House of Wagyu experience is not complete without cooking the steak yourself on the stone slab. Speaking from experience, you should be very careful because those bad boys get HOT. I accidentally burned my knuckle because I got a little (gigil with the steak) careless.

Our host for the evening, Spanky Enriquez, suggested that we use the biggest chunk of fat to "lubricate" (his words) the hot stone, making sure the meat doesn't stick to the plate. All it took was a few minutes on one side, and a few on the other, and BAM. Heaven in your mouth. Seriously, it was almost like eating marshmallows, not beef. Normally I don't like steak rare, but the Saga Wagyu Steak helped me appreciate having meat on the redder side, because the natural flavor of the beef simply shined. This is the part where I'm supposed to apologize to you, my dear readers (All 8 of you). I was so engrossed with that marvelous meat that I forgot to take a photo of the cooked steak. But you know what? I'm not even sorry!!!

For dessert, we had the Olive Oil Ice Cream with Strawberry & Mango Mille Feuille with Vanilla Cream. I honestly couldn't taste olive oil in the ice cream, but that might be a good thing. I loved the flakey pastry that it came with, and mashing it up with the ice cream gave the dessert a nice texture to go with its flavor.

As delicious as this was, I admittedly caught myself scouring through the scoop of ice cream, secretly hoping that there was still some leftover steak buried somewhere beneath.

This was indeed the most incredibly piece of steak that I had even put inside my mouth. Steak lovers should be enthused that the meat whose high level of quality you once thought could only be found in foreign lands, is now available in our shores.

Well done, House of Wagyu! (Or Medium Rare.. Depends on your preference.. hehe)